Deanston 12 Years Old 2012 Cask #59 (Best Dram)

A Deanston of a 12 year old chosen by the bottler Best Dram, distilled in 2012, from cask 59, bottled at 57.7%, one of 276 bottles. Deanston is a bright, fruity Highland single malt distilled in a Victorian mill at Doune. Its wash is fermented long, for a fruity, estery character.

Distilled from unpeated Scottish barley in bulbous copper stills, building the honeyed Deanston style. Maturation came in a Port cask, layered over the fruity Deanston make. Through integration spirit and wood marry, vanillin settling into a rounded vanilla as ethyl esters lend a riper apple and pear. Maturing in the vaulted stone warehouse, the spirit develops slow and steady. Its old weaving shed, once full of looms, is now a cool stone warehouse for the casks. It draws water from the River Teith, which also drives the turbine that powers the distillery. The mill ran for 180 years before cotton declined and the site became a distillery.

At a hearty 57.7% it carries real weight. Green apple, honey and a waxy malt, with red berry, plum and a dry spice from the cask. The texture is soft and waxy, the fruit lifted by vanilla. It finishes long, waxy and warming. This is the cotton mill malt of the River Teith.